Farewell, Chandler: Friends star Matthew Perry dies of possible drowning at 54; celebs mourn demise

Nonika Singh

“And I should be dead.” Alas, those heartbreaking words which Friends star Matthew Perry wrote in his candid memoir have come true. The line may have summarised his triumph over substance abuse, but could not help him conquer death. Found dead in a bathtub in his home at Los Angeles at a rather young age, 54, as the devastating news filters in, his fans and friends are filled with a deep sadness.

Easily one of the most endearing characters of the iconic show, if onscreen he won the heart of his reel wife Monica, off screen he won millions of admirers cutting across nations.

The hugely popular show Friends tracing the life of six New Yorkers rang a bell not only in the years (1994-2004) in which it was telecast. Rather, it has touched a chord among viewers of every generation and has had a record viewership even during its reruns. If Friends: The Reunion show in 2021 created much frenzy, today the episode has gone viral. The Canadian-American actor stepped into arc-lights rather young and went on to act in a host of TV shows and films. While best remembered as Chandler of Friends, his filmography certainly is not confined to the American sitcom alone. He was part of many other popular shows like The Odd Couple, The Good Wife and movies such as Fools Rush In, Three to Tango and The Ron Clark Story, of which he was also an executive producer. Of course, in public memory he will always be Chandler, whose wit and sarcasm-laden wisecracks had viewers in splits, a perfect foil to his rather dense roommate Joey in the show. His portrayal of Chandler won him an Emmy and Golden Globe nomination, which also came his way for The Ron Clark Story. But fame never comes easy. In his tell-all memoir Friends, Lovers, and The Big Terrible Thing, he bared his soul as readers became privy to his long struggle with addiction.

In the book he wrote ‘I think you actually have to have all of your dreams come true to realise they are the wrong dreams’, a reckoner of how fame is no elixir that can solve personal problems. The prefect partner and husband of Friends, while he was rumoured to be dating many an actress, lasting love eluded him. Born in 1969 to John Bennett Perry, a singer and performer and Suzanne Marie Morrison, who rose to become the press secretary to Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, Perry was a child of a broken family. His parents got divorced when he was barley one-year old. Whether it was to understand ‘anhedonia’, inability to feel pleasure in normally pleasurable activities, or beat addiction, he admittedly spent nearly nine million dollars on treatments to get sober.

‘I thought I get to make jokes…’ goes one of his lines in the show in which he perfected the art of comic timing. Sadly, life is no laughing matter and death has the last laugh. Perry, however, will outlive it. Like the cult show that forever lives in our memories, his sardonic sense of humour will never ever be lost.

Tributes from Indian celebs

Actors Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, and Nimrat Kaur on Sunday mourned the demise of Friends star Matthew Perry, thanking him for the laughs and his talent.

Kareena shared a still of Perry from the popular 1990s American TV show Friends and captioned it as ‘Chandler Forever’ with a heart emoji on her Instagram Stories. Ranveer posted a photograph on his Instagram Stories with an evil eye amulet, folded hands and dove emojis. Samantha also shared a picture of Perry and wrote: “Forever Friend, thank you.” “Rest in glory #MatthewPerry. Chandler Bing for life,” wrote Nimrat on X.

Actor-comic Vir Das wrote on a microblogging site, “In most great comedy scenes there’s a character who is the audience. Very tough character to pull off. Matthew Perry was that on Friends. The one who, like us, sees how idiotic this all is. Super hard to combine that with being silly yourself. He walked that line perfectly.”

Veteran actor Venkatesh Daggubati said the world was a little less funny without Chandler Bing. “Rest in peace, dear friend,” he added in his post. Actress Bipasha Basu shared the actor’s photograph on her Instagram Stories and wrote ‘RIP Matthew Perry’ with a broken heart emoji.

Perry’s Friends co-stars — Jennifer Aniston (Rachel Green), Courteney Cox (Monica Geller), Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe Buffay), David Schwimmer (Ross Geller), and Matt LeBlanc (Joey Tribbiani) — are yet to react to his passing on social media.